Mayor seeks reimbursement for millions in police overtime during NATO

June 29, 2012|By David Heinzmann and Jeff Coen | Tribune reporters

Chicago police and anti-NATO protesters clash at the end of their march in May. (Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune)

Policing the NATO summit last month racked up about $15 million in overtime for Chicago Police officers, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration said Friday as it released documents seeking reimbursement for the costs from the federal government and the summit host committee.

The city sent letters dated June 29 to multiple government agencies asking for the release of funds earmarked for the city’s NATO costs. That includes $7.5 million designated by Congress when the NATO summit received National Special Security Event status, as well as another nearly $4 million in federal grant funds.

In the preparations for NATO, Emanuel had tasked his business development group, World Business Chicago, with leading the planning and fundraising efforts for the summit. The group raised about $33 million in private funds, pledging about $19 million of that to defraying any city costs not covered by the federal government. However, Friday’s requests from the host committee totaled just $1.9 million.

Emanuel’s spokeswoman, Sarah Hamilton, said that the current tally for police overtime costs associated with NATO was $14.6 million, but there could be some minimal further expenses straggling in over the next month.

“It's possible there could be some additional hours that were unaccounted for in the first round (not huge numbers), but this is the overwhelming majority,” Hamilton wrote in an email Friday.